


The Choice

by Kessie



Series: Teamwork [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-09 17:13:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kessie/pseuds/Kessie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We´ll give you a choice. You´ll kill one of your lovers, either John Watson or Sally Donovan yourself or we´ll kill everyone in here for you. Now that´s an offer you can´t refuse, can you?” - The gang gets kidnapped and things don´t look so good. ( a sequel to “Teamwork” so you better read that one and the “prequels” first)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**The Choice**

**Authors:** Kessie  
 **Characters/Pairings:** Sherlock, John, Sally, Lestrade, Anderson, OC´s Sherlock/Sally, John/Sally, Sherlock/John, Sherlock/John/Sally  
 **Warning:** Character death.  
 **Disclaimer:** Sherlock belongs to the BBC, Moffat and Gatiss. No copyright infringement intended.  
 **Summary :** “We´ll give you a choice. You´ll kill one of your lovers, either John Watson or Sally Donovan yourself or we´ll kill everyone in here for you. Now that´s an offer you can´t refuse, can you?” - The gang gets kidnapped and things don´t look so good. ( a sequel to “Teamwork” so you better read that one and the “prequels” first)

 

**Chapter 1**

 

When John woke his head felt like someone was dancing on it. Blinking, he tried to take in his surroundings.

 

A chair. Bound hands. He couldn´t seem to move his legs either, although he was sitting.

 

Also, he was in a warehouse.

 

What?  
  
Trying to open his eyes as much as the blinding headache would allow, he looked around and found himself still in an empty warehouse. But that didn´t make sense. Minutes ago they had been at a crime scene in Camden as suddenly...

 

He winced as his still waking brain made the connection. They had been attacked, that much he remembered. Someone had shot at them, hitting him in the leg with some dart and then everything had gone black.

 

He had been kidnapped. Damn it!

 

But where were the others?

 

Turning to his right he saw that Lestrade, Anderson, Sally and Sherlock had been taken with him. All of them were slowly waking up now, obviously as confused and as impaired as himself due to the drug they had been given.

 

Lestrade was the first who came to himself. “What the hell? Where are we?” he asked, once he saw John awake as well, and John shrugged.

 

“A warehouse. No idea where, but someone must have drugged us. So far they haven´t shown themselves.” he answered and next to him Sally groaned.

 

“Great, why does that always happens when I plan an evening out? It´s like I´m cursed!” She complained and John nearly laughed. It was true she had been going on about having tomorrow off and therefore watching Dr. Who with him and Sherlock all morning. She even bought some ice cream and John had been looking forward to more creative ways of eating said ice cream off Sally´s and Sherlock’s bodies. Her colleagues though, of course, thought she was going out partying, as she hardly could tell the truth.

 

“Don´t worry, you´ll be getting your damn evening. There´s no way I´ll sit here, listening to you complain all day. I have places to be!” That was Sherlock, which surprised John. This morning he had all but groaned about Sally´s idea of a night in for a change, and said he wouldn´t take part in it. John had already suspected he was lying, as Sherlock, despite his complaints about sentiment, never said no to sex, but Sherlock of course had just huffed at him.

 

John allowed himself a few seconds to be amused, before his thoughts went back to the more important task: They had to get out of there first.

 

From the looks of it the others had the same headaches as him, but the drugs seemed to be wearing off pretty quickly and with them the headaches slowly went as well, thank god.

 

“Any ideas how we are getting out of here?” Sally next to him asked and once again John tested his bonds. Before he could answer anything, the door at the far end of the room suddenly opened and two men walked in.

 

From the looks of it, they were middle aged and probably from Spain, Greece or somewhere else close to the Mediterranean Sea due to their dark hair and skin-tone. He had no idea who they were, as he had never seen them, but looking at his companions he guessed he might have been the only one.

 

Well, Sally´s low muttered “Fuck.” might have been an indication that she knew who they were dealing with.

 

“Ah they are awake.“ The probably older and slightly bigger of the two men drawled. “Mr. Sherlock Holmes” he nodded at Sherlock as if to greet him, smiling a sly and false smile which made John shudder. From the looks of it Sherlock detested said man as well, because he was glaring daggers at him.

 

“Marcelli.” he snarled. “What do you and your brother want this time? Wasting my time again?”

 

Marcelli laughed. “Aww and here I thought you´d be happy to see me. Well, we are here to finally settle the score. Your are responsible for the death of our brother after all.”

 

Sherlock simply huffed at that and to John´s surprise, it was Lestrade that answered.

 

“He took his own life in prison. Sherlock’s hardly responsible for that.”

 

“Oh, but that´s where you are wrong inspector. He was responsible for getting him into prison. And prison was what killed him. Ergo: Sherlock killed our brother.”

 

“That´s some pretty bollocks reasoning.” Sally spat. “Only because your damn brother is too weak and offs himself...” John wasn´t really surprised when Sally earned herself a slap for that but he wasn´t happy about it either, especially since he could do nothing to help her.

 

“Leave her alone. Your problem is with me, not with her.” Sherlock all but growled reminding John that his friend was not just fond of, but also pretty possessive of his lovers. Luckily these two criminals and everyone else in this room had no idea what was really going on between the three of them.

 

Nevertheless, he feared that even Anderson would catch on if Sherlock kept on like this, as he looked like a wolf when someone had touched one of their young.

 

“Oh, I wouldn´t say that. You took something from us, so we are going to take something from you.” The other Marcelli answered and the men both laughed shortly, before turning towards Sherlock again. “We´ll give you a choice. You´ll kill one of your lovers, either John Watson or Sally Donovan yourself, or we´ll kill everyone in here for you. Now that´s an offer you can´t refuse, can you?”

 

The man grinned as if someone had given him free chocolate, which made John feel sick. “Oh and to speed things up a bit: you´ve got five minutes.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I can´t sleep and my leg still hurts from the surgery you are getting this earlier than I thought.
> 
> Enjoy! ( although I´m not sure that´s the right word ;-) )

**Chapter 2**

 

John was stunned for few seconds after hearing that demand, before he reminded himself that Sherlock would not do it. The biggest part of his shock was probably the fact that the kidnappers knew about him, Sherlock and Sally anyway.

 

Because demands like that weren´t new to him since he started following Sherlock around. So why should they scare him? Nevertheless, it really bugged him that they knew about their real relationship to Sally. Where the hell did they get that from?

 

Not that anyone would believe them as Anderson was just demonstrating again.

 

“Lovers? Sally and Sherlock are no lovers. They hate each other.” He spat and the older of the Marcelli´s just raised an eyebrow. “I think you guys need to do some research.”

 

“He´s not that smart, is he?” the kidnapper stated and John nearly laughed. Anderson was really as dumb as a brick. It was kinda not hard to notice sometimes.

 

“Well..” Sherlock started, taking a deep breath, but before he could say anything more Sally was intercepting him.

 

“Oh come on. Like I´d love a freak like him. Eww.” She shuddered, clearly disgusted, but John could easily tell she didn’t mean it. Too easily.

 

Which probably meant that she was scared.

 

And if something scared Sally...

 

Well, he didn´t want to think about it.

 

“No.” That was Sherlock now. “I won’t do it.”

 

“Ah you won’t? Well you´d like to watch then? Thought so ...” The older Marcelli stated, taking out a gun.

 

“They have nothing to do with this. I propose you to take me and let them go.” Sherlock added, all serious, and John hoped he had a plan. There was no way he´d leave Sherlock behind.

 

But it wasn´t of any use anyway.

 

“Why should I do that? I have you already. No, this is much more fun.” the brute walked over to John and put the gun into his neck, while his brother took a gun out as well, watching. John tried to evade this, but since he was still tied up he had no chance and only wobbled a bit, getting dangerously close to keeling over with the chair.

 

Damn it.

 

Keeling over now was not a good idea since that way he could at least try and evade a bullet later. Not that there was a great chance he would succeed, but still. 

 

Sherlock looked like he was about to kill someone with his glares. John could see that his lover was seething and furiously thinking of a solution to get them all out of there, but to no avail.

 

“So which body part should I shoot first. Or would you rather that I´d take a knife? They would scream much more that way, wouldn’t they?” the kidnapper smirked, pressing the gun harder into John´s neck.

 

“Piss off. You are just not man enough to fight us in a fair fight.” Sally next to John spat, effectively earning herself the attention of Marcelli, who pointed the gun at her then.

 

“Oh, I´m sorry. Excuse me for my rudeness. Ladies first of course.” he leered and leaned in to pet Sally´s hair which she tried to evade. “Does she kiss as fierce as she speaks?” He asked, smiling at Sherlock. “Maybe I should find other uses for her first?”  
  


“Leave her alone.” Sherlock growled darkly and John could have sworn that if Anderson hadn´t already known that Sherlock cared about Sally he´d know then. Not to mention Greg.

 

“Ah so you pretend to care now, is that it?” Sally intercepted, ignoring the threat to her completely and leaving the kidnapper stunned for a second. “All the noble freak now, yeah? It´s your fault that we got into this mess in the first place.”

 

Lestrade, who had been watching the whole time, was a bit stunned and wanted to add something as well, but he didn´t get far as Sherlock and Sally were already going at it again.

 

“I´ve always been noble Miss Donovan.” He responded, but Sally scrunched her face.

 

“Yeah, right. Noble! You? Never. You´re just in for the murders, the more gruesome the better, because you get off on them.” Sally responded acidly, getting herself worked up as John could tell. Were his two friends stalling or why were they going through their routine again? He knew they enjoyed their bickering and sometimes he wasn´t even sure if they were really fighting or just having fun, but this now?

 

“You ´re probably already looking forward to my murder, aren´t you? Bet you´ll come on the spot.”

 

Wow, Sally was really going at it now, wasn´t she? That had made even John wince, even though he knew that she was just acting. She of course knew that Sherlock didn´t get aroused by murder as she committed enough murders with him over the years. It was true he wasn´t as bothered as normal people would have been by killing but it didn´t mean he actually liked it, right?

 

Not to mention that since the three of them started their little tryst she knew exactly what would get Sherlock all hot and bothered since they had been trying quite a lot of new things in bed lately.

 

Experiments, as Sherlock said.  
  
Neither John nor Sally seemed to mind.

 

Hell it had been fun. John never had more adventurous sex than with these two.

 

The downside was that they still weren´t admitting their feelings and often behaved like bickering children deliberately hurting each other, but John chose to give them time. Some day they would grow up and admit that they cared and it wasn´t just sex but also at least a very deep friendship between them.

 

Just like this morning when, after a stressful night, Sherlock again had acted like an asshole and Sally had followed his example.

 

 

 

**_Earlier that day...._ **

 

“ _Damn it Sherlock, get your hands off of me, I´m already late for the Yard.” Sally barked in the living room and John groaned inwardly, hiding under the covers of Sherlock’s bed._

 

_It was seven in the morning and these two were already making such a ruckus. John´s head hurt since he had had only three hours of sleep and he wished for the two to remain silent for once. That, and Sally was right. She was already late for the Yard._

 

_Another “Shherloockk!” Was what had made him finally get out of bed. He needed to make sure the two of them wouldn´t kill one of them or worse, each other. He´d miss them too much if they would do such a thing._

 

_When he came to the living room, Sherlock had pinned Sally to the wall, holding her hands above her head, watching her._

 

“ _Sherlock, let Sally go, she needs to leave for the Yard.” John commented and went over to the kitchen to make some tea, but Sherlock didn´t seem to have heard him._

 

_Instead he was talking to Sally. “You´ve been meeting with Detective Simmers again.” He sneered and Sally rolled her eyes._

 

“ _Jealous much? We had lunch together, Sherlock. At work.”_

 

_Sherlock though didn´t seem to be satisfied with this so Sally went on. “And it´s not like we are exclusive. Damn it Sherlock, let me go. I´ll lose my job if I’m late again.”_

 

“ _Tell him, if he touches you, I´ll cut off his cock.”_

 

_John had nearly dropped the tea cup he had been holding. What?  
_

_It took Sally a few seconds to react as well. “Are you on drugs again? He´s a colleague for god´s sake and I´m not a possession.”_

 

_Sherlock huffed and let her go as John entered the living room. “Just tell him. Tell him I´ll cut off his cock and feed it to him if he dares to even look at you.” He turned around and walked over to John. “Tell him. Or I´ll tell him myself.”_

 

_With that he went back towards his bedroom._

 

“ _I will do no such thing. No wonder your mother thought you were a psychopath when you were young. I´m beginning to think she was right.” Sally screamed retaliating and John thought he had seen Sherlock flinch at that, before he vanished into his room._

 

_Giving the still riled up Sally a goodbye kiss as she left, John sighed. Of course Sally had to bring up that again now that she knew she could hurt Sherlock that way. He´d only hinted at it, but the detective had been deeply affected when his mother had sent him from one psychiatrist to another from age 5 onwards. To her his intelligence and his character had made him a psychopath. That and the fact that Sherlock even back then hadn´t been that affected by a death, while to her someone dying meant the end of the world._

 

_But Sherlock had brought this on himself. He knew Sally hated to be controlled. One of her mother´s boyfriends had tried to control every movement of her once and that had only stopped when her brother intervened._

 

_So why did Sherlock try to control with whom she was having lunch now? Hell, she had known Simmers for years and he had never shown any interest in her besides a loose friendship._

 

_Damn it, these two were bonkers, John thought and vowed to go and talk to the consulting detective at once._

 

“ _Sherlock you brought this on yourself, you can not talk to her like that. What in heavens sake were you thinking? You know she doesn´t like to be controlled like that.” John started, but Sherlock had already hidden under the covers._

 

_Only a muffled “Go away!” could be heard and then he was silent, clearly sulking._

 

_John sighed. These two were worse than kids, really._

 

_Feeling that his headache was coming back full force, he decided to go to the kitchen to get his tea and leave Sherlock sulk for a bit._

 

_He would talk to both of them later._

 

But it hadn´t come to that. At the crime scene a few hours later, things were still tense and then they had ended up here.

 

And now they were fighting again.

 

It made John uneasy even if most of it was acting, but after this morning he felt they needed to talk.

 

He was thrown out of his thoughts because Sally was still talking to Sherlock as if the two of them were they only ones in the room.

 

“Let´s be honest here, Psychopath, you are actually working together with them aren´t you?” she continued. This one was clearly set to hurt Sherlock, John could tell, and he felt himself reminded of the argument from the morning again.

 

“I ´ve been telling them that there always were signs. You behave like a robot. You enjoy death more than anything. No wonder you´ll let them kidnap us to get us killed.”

 

Marcel Marcelli, the older one was actually laughing now. “Wow she is fierce.” He commented and Sally only snorted at him.

 

Sherlock seemed stoic now, thinking, which added to John´s weird feeling.

 

“Hey Anderson, did you know that his own mother thought he was a psychopath?” Sally then suddenly said and, while Anderson pretended to not be surprised, John couldn´t believe that Sally had just said that. It was Sherlock’s secret.

 

Hell, he had been surprised when Sherlock shared it with them a while ago.

 

Looking at his friend he could tell the detective was shocked as well.

 

And hurt.

 

“Gosh, where is the Timelord with his Tardis to end it all,when you need him? I feel like I can´t breathe in here. Couldn´t you find a less stinky warehouse? If I die I at least want to do it somewhere un-stinky.” Sally sighed and John wanted to laugh at her silly comment, but suddenly found he couldn´t.

 

Wait. What?

 

Timelord?

 

That was Sally´s safe-word. What the hell was she doing?

 

He had a feeling there was something deeply wrong here, as he noticed Sherlock halting for a moment as well, looking at Sally, before he went on, facing Marcelli.

 

“Okay, since you are insisting so deeply I will do it. But I want your word that the others go free.” The consulting detective said all of the sudden, making John stop in his tracks.

 

Wait, what?

 

Had Sherlock just agreed to kill one of them or was he dreaming?

 

The Marcelli´s looked stunned as well for a second as Sherlock remained stoic, nodding at his hands. “Well if I’m to kill someone you´ll have to cut me loose as I´m not psychic.” He pointed out and to John´s surprise the younger Marcelli did as he was told, still aiming his gun at Sherlock.

 

“No tricks.” He warned and Sherlock nodded.

 

“No tricks, I promise.”

 

Yeah, right. Of course Sherlock had a trick up his sleeve. He would disarm the first gunman any second now, and make sure, the other Marcelli couldn´t shoot John at the same time.

 

No wait. That wasn´t really possible. But he had to have a plan, didn´t he? John was sure of this. Although he had no idea what exactly.

 

“So who is the lucky one then?” Marcelli asked Sherlock and he nodded at Sally.

 

“Oh. No surprise there. Never thought you went for the pushy ones anyway. She talks way too much.” Marcelli commented and Sally huffed at this.

 

“Look who’s talking.” She bit back, seemingly not at all concerned about what was happening.

 

John though, felt like he was watching everything in slow motion as he saw Sherlock walk over to Sally, loosen her leg bindings, and help her out of her chair since her hands were still cuffed behind her back. Next to him Anderson was screaming every derogatory curse at Sherlock he could seem to find, while Lestrade was the exact opposite. Totally silent, white as a sheet and a bit green around the edges he watched the scene before him, while John tested his cuffs once more, but to no avail.

 

“You don´t have to do this Sherlock.” he begged, but Sherlock didn´t seem to hear him. “Sherlock please!” he tried once more and wanted to get up, but the leg bindings were too strong and instead he nearly toppled over his chair.

 

The older one of the Marcelli brother caught him before he could fall and of course reminded him of the gun he had in his hand by pressing it into John´s neck. “One more stunt like that and you are dead regardless. Let your friend work.”

 

“Piss off.”

 

That earned him a hit with the gun to the side of his head and everything swam for a few seconds. Through this haze he noticed Marcelli hitting the still cursing Anderson as well, to get him to shut up. While Anderson let out an unmanly yell from the pain, John looked over to Sherlock and Sally again.

 

“Leave them alone. That´s not settling the score.” Sherlock commanded and both Marcelli´s glared at him.

 

“Your friends are not cooperating.” the younger gunman hissed and Sherlock shrugged.

 

“You are really surprised they aren´t? In this situation you put them in?”

 

Before the younger Marcelli could answer, Marcel Marcelli, the older of the two intercepted. “Stop playing around, both of you. I believe you have something to do Mr. Holmes!”

 

Sherlock nodded and settled behind the now kneeling Sally as if he had expected this command.

 

John fought the urge to vomit, testing the bonds for the umpteenth time. Marcelli reminded him to stop his administrations with the gun to his neck and he reluctantly did so. It wouldn´t do Sally and Sherlock any good if he would get himself killed now. He knew that.

 

Anderson next to him sobbed more or less quietly and Lestrade still looked like he was about to keel over. Coming up with no way to help either Sherlock or Sally he hoped that his friend had a plan.

 

Because he wouldn´t simply kill Sally, right? She was their friend, well even more than that. There was no way Sherlock would hurt her, would he?

 

Sherlock had closed his arms around Sally´s neck now. While the consulting detective tightened his arms around her neck and her mouth, he heard Lestrade yell something, but due to the shock of Sherlock´s actions John couldn´t register what it was. Next to him Anderson went ballistic which earned him another hit on his head that left him stunned. He vaguely registered that Lestrade earned himself a strike as well, but he could only stare at what Sherlock was doing.

 

Sherlock had Sally in a death grip now and whispered something in her ear, which the others and John couldn´t hear, but which made her eyes go wide. Then his friend obstructed her airway even more in earnest, pressing down on her carotid artery, as Sally started to fight against him. It wasn´t much though and John was surprised that she wasn´t fighting harder. Maybe Sherlock had told her his plan? She was nearly compliant now, she had to know something.

 

It didn´t take long for Sally to get unconscious though. Settling her down almost carefully John expected Sherlock´s plan to get into motion but watched in horror as Sherlock sat down next to Sally and pressed his hands over her mouth and nose.

 

This wasn´t right.

 

This was dangerous.

 

He would really kill her if he continued like this.

 

“Stop. Stop it, Sherlock.” he found himself screaming but Sherlock didn´t seem to hear him. Instead his friend was watching what he was doing to Sally, calmly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

 

Screaming louder John begged and pleaded, but Sherlock didn´t stop. His friend´s hand went to Sally´s neck to check for a pulse after a few moments, before he nodded.

 

“It´s done.” He said silently and got up as the older Marcelli nodded at the younger one. While Marcel was still aiming his gun at them, the younger went over and checked Sally´s pulse and looked if she was breathing.

 

Another nod.

 

“She´s dead.”

 

Was all what followed before John´s vision clouded and sob tore from his throat.

 

God no.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 

John couldn´t help himself, but he continued to stare at the dead Sally, still unbelieving.

 

What had Sherlock done? How could he...?

 

He couldn´t really grasp what just had happened especially since he was sure Sherlock had feelings for Sally as well. Hell, even the bickering this morning had convinced him once more of this but now Sherlock was looking entirely unperturbed.

 

Just as if nothing had happened.

 

“So that settles the score, right?” He more told than asked the Marcelli´s and Marcel Marcelli seemed to be satisfied.

 

“Yes. We´ll leave at once.” Marcel said, looking equally surprised and pleased at the outcome of this, lowering his gun. He was just about to turn around as Sherlock went over to him faster than John ever saw his lover move. Hitting the man in the windpipe, he took the gun from him, turned and shot the other Marcelli brother right between the eyes before he could even aim his gun at Sherlock or anyone else. Looking over to Marcel, who was down on the floor now, gasping for air and clutching his hurt neck, he snarled. “I´d love to make your death long and painful but I don´t have time for this.”

 

With that he raised his foot and kicked the man in the head once, than a second time, with such force that John was sure he actually heard a crack of the bone.

 

Then Marcel Marcelli was silent as well.

 

Rushing over to Sally Sherlock looked at his watch:” 1 minute, 47 seconds.” He breathed and started to reanimate Sally at once. It took a few seconds for John to understand that Sherlock actually had meant the time since she had stopped breathing and for once he got some hope as well.

 

1 minute, 47 seconds, had it really been that short? It had seemed much longer, but nevertheless under three minutes meant that Sally had a fair chance of getting out of this more or less unharmed.

 

If Sherlock could reanimate her, that is.

 

But under 3 minutes was good, there was a good chance not many brain cells had died yet and since they warehouse was quite cold the chance was even higher. Praying to whatever higher being or god there was, he hoped that Sally would get another chance at living.

 

Damn it, he didn´t want to be without her yet. He and Sherlock had just found their relationship with her a few weeks ago.

 

Next to him Anderson was sobbing, pleading to God the whole time. Lestrade was obviously in shock, eyes wide and pale as Sally suddenly gasped back to life, clutching her neck.

 

“Ow.” She rasped but tried to smile at Sherlock, who was cradling her in his arms now, still regularly checking her pulse and her breathing.

 

“Let me have a look.” John demanded angrily and Sherlock looked at Sally and then nodded at once. Gently settling her down again, he took off his coat and wrapped it around her. Then he went over to Marcel and searched his pockets for the cuff keys.

 

He was lucky, because only moments later he had a set of keys and made his way over to John first.

 

Even though it took only two tries, it was nearly too much for John. The second he was free from both the cuffs and the ropes that had bound his feet he ran over to Sally like hell had broken loose.

 

Sally had been lucky in the end.

 

As strange as it sounded, Sherlock had actually been careful. He had hindered her breathing but only applied as much pressure as necessary and since Sally hadn´t fought back the bruises she had weren´t that severe. Nevertheless, she would have to go to hospital to check her out and make sure she didn´t retain any damage.

 

Come to think of it, they would all have to go because of the drugs and Anderson and Lestrade because of the blows to the head. Not that he himself needed a hospital. He knew he was all right.

 

While John took care of Sally and examined her, Sherlock had been getting Lestrade and Anderson loose. Said forensic scientist was screaming bloody murder at the consulting detective.

  
“You´ll be behind the bars for this,you psychopath.” he snarled, rushing over to Sally as well, who was still in John´s arms.”I´ll make sure you´ll never get near her again.” he bellowed, grabbing Sally´s hand, who didn´t look too happy about it, which Anderson failed to notice in his panic.

 

While Sherlock chose to say nothing at all, Lestrade was calling for back up, using a phone he had found on one of the Marcelli´s, and so it was Sally, who spoke over Anderson’s continuing ramblings. “Anderson!” She shouted, voice still rough, to make sure he heard her. “Shut up for a minute.”

 

To John´s surprise Anderson actually did what she said.

 

“Listen, you will do no such thing. I´m all right as you can see.” She tried, but the forensic scientist wouldn´t have it.

 

“Sally, he killed you. Without even batting an eye! You were right about him!” he barked but Sally shook her head.

 

“I´m not dead. And I´ll be okay, believe me. It doesn´t even hurt anymore.” She said but Anderson still looked sceptical and before he could respond with anything she intercepted again.

 

“I knew all the time what Sherlock was doing. Did you see me fight, Philip? I didn´t fight him, cause I knew the Marcelli´s would do far worse. And he didn´t murder me as I´m still here. So end of story.”

 

It was that very second that the medics and more Yarder´s arrived, so Anderson didn´t get to answer as a team started to examine his head wound. John made sure to give as many details about Sally´s injuries as he could and insisted on riding in the ambulance with her.

 

He saw Sherlock being checked out as well, but since he had no real injuries he drove to the hospital in the back of Dimmock´s car, while Anderson and Lestrade rode in another ambulance.

 

 

#

 

 

At the hospital everyone was checked out once more, even John himself. Luckily they let him go pretty quickly and a moment later he was back at Sally´s side.

 

They were still waiting for the drugs analysis of what they had in their blood, so John settled down next to her. The doctors had just stopped to prod at Sally´s neck but hadn´t said anything yet, which made Sally a bit nervous, John could tell.

 

“Don´t worry, you´ll be all right. Otherwise they would have examined and treated you much more already.” He told her and she nodded, as if to reassure herself.

 

“Yeah. I know. Just has been a weird night you know?” she tried to smile at that, but it didn´t quite reach her eyes, so John tried a reassuring smile himself.

 

“Tell me about it. I still can´t believe...” he trailed off, then shook his head. “I mean he whispered something in your ear and I thought he had a plan...”

 

“Yeah, well. That was something else entirely.”

 

That got John curious. “What did he say?”

 

Sally smiled.

  
“I mean, you don’t have to tell me, but...”

 

“No. It´s all right. He said: I believe I am in love with you Sally Anne Donovan and I wanted you to know that.”

 

That made John´s eyes go wide. “What?”

 

“Yeah, that´s what I was thinking.” Sally was smiling now, but looked a bit sad only a second later. “Hell, I knew he cared. No matter what he said, but that.... nearly gave me a heart attack on the spot.”

 

John chuckled at that. “Well maybe this was the idea.” he teased, which earned him a small hit on the arm from Sally.

 

“Haha.” She answered but than was serious again. “I mean it´s so Sherlock that he´d wait until a situation like that to come out with it. He isn´t the type for big declarations and cuddles and all that. But deep within him he cares, I know that.”

 

John nodded. “Yeah, I think the same. Bloody bastard that he is.”

 

They smiled at each other again and John decided he didn´t care that they might look like a lovesick couple to bystanders. Well maybe they were a lovesick triad he corrected himself. Sherlock would be appalled.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 

“Where is he anyway?” Sally asked only a moment later, clearly a bit uneasy she hadn´t seen him since they had come to the hospital.

 

“I don´t know, but I will have a look. It´s probably better before he kills any of the staff.”

 

Sally laughed but agreed, and with that he went on Sherlock search.

 

Which of course was harder than expected.

 

He managed to find Anderson and Lestrade who had been examined and were reasonably okay, and who were still waiting for the drugs results as well. While Lestrade sported a black eye, Anderson had had a few stitches for his wound at the left eyebrow. Except for a few bumps and small bruises they were otherwise unharmed.

 

He could tell Anderson, though, was still pissed at Sherlock.

 

“I still can´t believe you haven´t arrested him yet.” he complained and Lestrade sighed, looking quite annoyed at the tirades already.

 

“Anderson, I have told you, he had no other choice. Hell, you know what the Marcelli´s are famous for, don´t you? You were on some of the cases as well.”

 

Anderson huffed at that. Lestrade had seen the questions in John´s eyes and started to explain. “We had a case a few years ago. The son of Marcel Marcelli had a girlfriend named Tanja Roberts. Thing is, his father and his uncle didn´t deem her to be fit for him. So what did they do to the 17 year old boy? Killed her right in front of him and locked him in a room with her for a week to teach him a lesson. And that was something they did to their own son.”

 

John gulped at that, his mind far too happy to supply him with a corresponding image. That was beyond cruel. He wanted to say so, but Lestrade had already continued.

 

“But this wasn´t the only case. We had men buried alive, cut off hands for people who owed them money, a women who lost her unborn child as they kicked it out of her. But no matter what, we couldn´t make anything stick. For the most part they left no traces, and if they did they would intimidate the witnesses or things like that. “

 

Anderson was silent now, contemplating and John was doing so as well, as he learned how much danger he had actually been in.

 

“Really, I think Sherlock did what he had to do. He even surprised them with what he did and then used it to his advantage. I believe they wanted him to say no and then they would have killed us slowly and made him watch.” Greg looked positively green again and grimaced as he talked further. “No, I don’t want to imagine that. Hell, I was so glad when it was said the Marcelli´s had returned to their home country again a few years ago, but I guess that was too quick.”

 

“Seems like it. Listen, I need to look for Sherlock, and Sally is still waiting. “ John said and Lestrade nodded. He probably could sense that John needed to see Sherlock now. God, he had had no idea about all this.

 

“Yeah, go look for him. We need your statements tomorrow afternoon, though. Is that okay?”

 

“Should be. I´ll tell Sherlock and Sally.”

 

Greg smiled at him, while Anderson seemed still in contemplating mode.

  
“Still can´t believe that they thought that the freak and Sally were together. They were crazy. She hates him.” He rambled and John nearly laughed, but stopped himself when he caught Lestrade´s look at him. The inspector of course wasn´t as oblivious as Anderson. It looked like he had quite a few questions which he held back for now. But John was sure that one day he and/ or Sherlock would be grilled, so to speak.

 

“Oh I have no idea as well, but Sally doesn´t look too bad.” He eluded while Anderson was shaking his head.

 

“Yeah, but the freak? She´s got taste, man!” the forensic scientist bragged but caught John´s look at this. “I mean, maybe he isn´t so bad. I know you... uhm.. like him. But him and Sally?”

 

Shaking his head John decided to let it go. Sherlock and Sally were more important now anyway.

 

“Who knows. I need to go and find his eminence now. If you don´t see us anymore, get some rest, okay? It has been quite a night.”

 

They said their goodbyes and John went on. It took him another 10 minutes to find his grumbling detective and the first thing he did was to kiss him straight away.

 

“You git, why are you running away from us?” John asked, drawing his lover close again as Sherlock wanted to move away. Sherlock hugged back for about a second, then stepped back once more.

 

“Busy.” the dark-haired man replied and only a moment later a mobile, which Sherlock had obtained from “God knows where”, rang and he immediately picked up.

 

“Mycroft, finally.” he bellowed and John´s eyes went wide at that. Sherlock calling Mycroft for help? On his own? Without being prompted?

 

That wasn´t a good sign.

 

Sherlock seemed to have read his thoughts and held a hand over the mobile. “John, I need to do some things to cover our tracks, can we meet up at Baker Street? It won’t be long.”

 

Before John could even say as much as “Yes.”, Sherlock was already rushing away, blabbering away at Mycroft. John let him as he didn´t want to leave Sally alone for too long right now. Even though she was holding herself up admirably he knew she was still in shock. Hell, he nearly went into shock himself, being unable to move in that damn warehouse.

 

And moving was still a task as part of him just wanted to lay down somewhere and hide. He simply lacked the energy to run down any more criminals tonight and hoped that Sherlock would let it rest until tomorrow at least.

 

But enlisting Mycroft was good, he guessed.

 

Slowly walking back to Sally, he found her still waiting at the same place.

 

It did take another hour until the doctors came back with some results.

 

He had been right back in the warehouse, Sally really had been lucky. The drug wasn´t a problem either, as it was nearly out of their systems already. She had a few small haematoma at her neck, but they weren´t severe. Nevertheless, the staff wanted to keep her over night, just in case. John could understand that. 

 

But Sally of course was having none of it.

 

“No way, I have my own doctor at home who can watch me!” She protested, just as John came back into the room from getting them something to drink. “Look, ask him.” she told them and turned to John. “John, please, there´s no way I´m going to stay here tonight. I have a few bumps at my neck but otherwise I´m all right.”

 

John sighed, a bit uneasy. Yes, she seemed all right. But what if her circulation failed, or her heart had retained some damage or something like that?

 

Although the EKG seemed to be all right, but shouldn´t they be extra careful?

 

Not that he didn´t want to have Sally in his arms at home tonight, but... he worried.

 

“Sal, I don´t know. Maybe you should, cause I can´t monitor...” He started, unsure what to say, but was stopped when Mycroft Holmes walked into the room.

 

What the hell was he doing here? John asked himself and from the look on Sally´s face she likely thought the same.

 

“Dr. Watson, I believe I can help.” The British government told him and for once John was glad to listen.

 

#

 

It was hours later that John found Sally staring out of the window of 221b, nursing a cup of tea, lost in thought. Sherlock was puttering around the kitchen, apparently doing some sort of experiment.

 

“You all right?” He asked and winced at this. How could she be all right after this? She just had been killed and been brought back deliberately. That wasn´t something someone came back from unharmed.

 

“Stop worrying so much. “ Sally scolded him, now that she had turned around. “I can actually see the wheels turning in your head.”

 

John tried a reassuring smile but Sally shook her head.

 

“No really. Yes, I still feel a bit weird, but that´s normal after being kidnapped, isn´t it? I won’t be permanently scarred about the death thing if it´s what you are fearing. I even kind of expected it.”

 

Seeing John´s confusion she sighed. “Listen, me and Sherlock made a deal. If things go bad. If there is no hope, then we will kill each other. In the least painful way possible. This Choking game, as kids call it, is one way of doing it, but I also know where to hit so I´ll instantly crush the windpipe or where to stab so that one bleeds out in a few seconds. You are a doctor, you know what I mean.”

 

John couldn´t believe what he was hearing. “What the... when...?” he tried, clearly not liking this one bit.

 

“It was before you. It was the natural step, given the things we do and the people we face.”

 

“But...” John couldn´t believe how matter of fact Sally sounded. “So you are totally cool with him killing you today? Just like that?”

 

“It was a necessity- have you seen what the Mafia guys are capable off? Being buried alive is the most harmless thing they have done to people. I`m not scared of death but I´m scared of pain so I´d rather die quick.”

 

Before John could say anything to this, Sally had closed in him, putting her lips on his. The kiss was clumsy at first because John wanted to argue, but soon he let himself be persuaded by her lips and the feel of her body against his. God, to think she could have been dead now. He shook the thought away and drew her closer, fearing this moment now wasn´t real. It took a few minutes but then they needed to breath again and Sally drew back a bit and looked him in the eye.

 

“Listen, I am... we are sorry for scaring you. But it was the only way.”

 

As Sally let go and wandered off, John realized that Sherlock had been standing behind them for bit already. He watched as she approached his other lover and drew him in for a kiss as well.

 

Sherlock stiffened for a second before letting himself be goaded into the kiss. John could see he was trembling slightly drawing Sally as close as he could. Come to think of it, Sherlock had been kind of avoiding her for the last few hours. Seeing him kiss Sally now John realized that Sherlock had expected her to be angry or maybe had expected her to push him away, John didn´t know.

 

Slowly walking closer to the two he saw that the consulting detective’s cheeks were wet now. He had never seen Sherlock cry, not even in those minutes when Sally had been dead, but now he could see the tears slowly making their way down his cheeks. Sherlock didn´t sob or made a sound and John wasn´t even sure if he realized he was crying, but Sally seemed to notice as well. She stopped the kiss, only to then kiss the tears away, murmuring. “It´s all right Sherlock. It´s all right. I love you, too, you know? And you as well John, and I don´t care how complicated this makes it.”

 

She turned around and looked at him pointedly and he nodded, before she went back to kiss Sherlock again. John smiled at this and couldn´t help but agree. He didn´t care as well how complicated it would be or what others thought of this.

 

These two were his and he´d fight for them.

 

To the death if necessary.

 

 

#

 

They had gone to bed shortly after that. Even Sherlock had been persuaded to go to bed pretty easily, probably because he was exhausted, but John also suspected he didn´t want to leave him or Sally at the moment. It had even led so far that they were spooning now, Sally in the middle and him to her right while Sherlock had settled down on the left side.

 

John himself couldn´t sleep, still worried, although Sally was wearing the safety-bracelet Mycroft had given them at the hospital. It was designed to monitor the blood pressure, heartbeat and oxygen of the wearer and would alert them if anything would be wrong with Sally. They were really lucky Mycroft had such secret government gadgets at his disposal, he supposed. Actually he wouldn´t have even dared to take Sally out of the hospital without this.

 

And yet here he was, lying awake unable to sleep. Sherlock wasn´t faring much better, he guessed, since he felt his lover move slightly just a few minutes ago.

 

Slowly he ran his hand down his friend’s arm, careful to not wake Sally with the movement. He hoped that Sherlock would calm down to get at least some sleep.

 

They still had to give their statements tomorrow and that wouldn´t be easy for any of them.

 

So far sleep didn´t seem to be working for either of them though. John was about to ask if Sherlock was still awake, as Sally suddenly started to tremble in his arms. Murmuring something unintelligible at first, she began to move more in earnest trying to evade his hold, over to Sherlock´s side. The murmuring grew louder and was easier to understand. “Sherlock, no... please... no...” Donovan begged and John felt his blood run cold as he realized what she probably was dreaming of.

 

Sherlock seemed to be thinking the same as he switched on the small lamp on the bedside table and gently tried to shake Sally awake. It seemed to take a few moments but then she finally opened her eyes, only to nearly jump off the bed at the sight of Sherlock.

 

“Oh my god, I can not... sorry.” She mumbled, shrinking away from Sherlock even more, as she was still shaken by the dream. Their friend got the message and got up without a word. Taking Sally into his arms, John saw him vanish through the doorway and sighed.

 

He doubted that Sally wanted to chase him away like that, but of course Sherlock would run. John would probably have done the same, but Sally wouldn´t like it.

 

He was right. It was about 5 minutes later when Sally had calmed down, that she started to look around the room.

 

“Where´s Sherlock?” She asked, then sighed. “I made him run away, didn´t I? Stupid nightmare.”

 

“Hey it´s totally understan... “ John tried but Sally had already gotten up in search for Sherlock. Taking a huge, deep breath himself, John opted to follow her at once.

 

It did only take a few minutes to determine that Sherlock wasn´t in the flat. Cursing, John was just about to head to his bedroom to get dressed, as Sally suddenly stopped him, grabbing his arm.

 

“Wait, do you smell the smoke?” She asked but before John could answer anything, she had already turned around and declared. “I know where he is!”

 

Following, John only realised where she was heading when she climbed through the open window in the attic before he could stop her. Peeking out he saw she was right. There, a few meters away from them on the roof, was Sherlock. He was clad only in a T- shirt and some shorts, the dressing gown loosely around his shoulders, smoking, while staring down at London below. Seeing Sally was also only in her Pjs, John found he wanted to go downstairs and get them some clothes. He was stopped, though, as he heard Sally start to talk to Sherlock.

 

“Hey, I didn´t want to chase you off, you know that, right?” she stated but Sherlock ignored her and therefore Sally climbed towards him and sat to his right. Taking his cigarette from him she inhaled deeply once, then a second time, before putting the fag back into Sherlock´s mouth again.

 

“You´ll get pneumonia up here.” Sherlock then suddenly commented, and Sally laughed.

 

“Look who´s talking.”

 

Then both of them were silent again and John sighed as he watched Sherlock flip the cigarette butt onto the street. Sally had begun to feel cold and was rubbing her arms as Sherlock suddenly turned towards her.

 

“You won’t give up, will you?” He asked and John could actually hear the grin in Sally´s next answer.

 

“Oh, you know the answer to that one, don´t you? I´m sorry, Sherlock.”

 

Sherlock said nothing to that, but instead slipped out of the right arm of the gown, pulled Sally towards him and wrapped it around her. He whispered something which sounded a bit like “Stubborn woman.” which John couldn´t make out that well since he was too far away, but since it earned Sherlock a scuff in the side he guessed he had been right.

 

“John, you coming, too?” Sherlock all of the sudden called and John was surprised his friend had noticed he was there in the shadows. Before he could answer though, Sherlock already continued. “If yes bring a blanket, will you?”

 

John smiled and went downstairs. He brought the big bedspread from Sherlock’s bed, which was big enough to wrap the three of them in, and sat down on Sherlock’s left side. With the spread the cold night was actually bearable and John found himself admiring the view for a second.

 

“It´s his pouting spot.” Sally then declared, obviously having seen John looking around, and Sherlock only huffed at that while John laughed. “What? It´s true. You come here to think and to pout, don´t you? So if you can´t find him, look here. We actually searched for nearly a day once as he had stormed off a crime scene when... ow.”

 

John had felt rather than seen Sherlock’s movement to pinch Sally, but before she could say anything more or get her revenge the consulting detective kissed her. The kiss went on for a few seconds and John couldn´t help but grin as they moved away again.

 

“See, that´s better.” Sally declared and Sherlock let out a long deep breath.

 

“It´s true you know, what I said to you today.” He declared and Sally nodded while he turned to John.

 

“And you, too. It´s damn inconvenient though.” He added as if get out of this again but Sally “tsked” next to him.

 

“Stop it. We know you care. Have known for quite some time in fact, so don´t worry. And no it´s not inconvenient. Not always.”

 

“Yeah the sex is quite good.” John decided to throw in, which elicited a louder “Hey!” from Sally before all three of them started laughing.

 

It took a few moments until they were silent again, staring off at the city of London below.

 

“I´m sorry, Sally.” Sherlock whispered after a few minutes, still staring ahead.

 

“Yeah I know, silly. Hell, I didn´t have another idea either. If you had said no, John and me probably would have been killed right in front of you. Not to mention Greg and Anderson as they don´t like to leave witnesses.” She sighed and took the cigarette Sherlock offered her. For once John didn´t say anything even though he didn´t like them smoking.

 

“Come to think of it, we were actually lucky they liked to play around.” Sally continued then. “Other criminals would probably have killed us before you woke up.”

 

John felt Sherlock flinch at that and Sally must have as well as she patted his back and nuzzled his neck. “Hey, it´s all right. You had deduced what they were going to do and avoided the worst, didn’t you? Me and John are fine. We´ll all be fine.”

 

She smiled at both of them. “That, and we finally got the Marcelli´s. After all these years when we couldn´t find them.”

 

John shook his head at that. Typical Sally. Always trying to find the perks. “So they were on your list?” He asked.

 

“Definitely. But they were hard to find and totally went off the radar four years ago. I´m not surprised they came back, though, arrogant fucks that they were.“ Leaning closer to Sherlock she gave him a small peck on the cheek. “But we won. We were better than them and justice prevailed. That´s what counts in the end.”  
  
Sherlock said nothing but let himself be held by both and cuddled a bit, which showed John exactly how deep in shock he still was. Nobody said anything either when Sherlock placed his hand over Sally´s heart and let it stay there for a while, just feeling her heartbeat, while the three of them remained huddled together.

 

Silently John admitted to himself he was rather shocked as well.

 

Mafia.

 

Damn it.

 

“Wait, the fact that they were Mafia means that the rest of the family is not going to be happy about them vanishing, right?” he asked, already knowing, or rather fearing, the answer.

 

“Yes, John.” Sherlock nodded and then groaned, which irritated Sally a bit.

 

“What is it?” She asked, and Sherlock groaned louder.

 

“I just realized we have to protect Anderson.” he complained and Sally pinched his side in response, but Sherlock wouldn´t have it. “I don´t want to protect Anderson. I´m not helping to protect low level IQ any more, not after today. He still doesn’t get that me and Sally are friends.” He whined and John started laughing again at that.

 

“Well I guess, that can´t be helped, Sherlock.” He teased. “I´ll just tell Mycroft you´ll do this job personally.”

 

Sherlock’s “No!” and Sally´s laughter were the responses that John had been aiming for and he basked in them, knowing that Sally had been right a few moments ago.

 

They´d be all right.

 

They´d overcome every trauma and every damn Mafioso thrown at them, cause they had each other now. That, and the British Government and someone high in the London police force as well, a tiny voice in his head chided, but John just smiled and kissed first Sherlock and then Sally.

 

They´d be all right.

 

He was sure of it.

 

Sherlock seemed to know what he was thinking as he nodded and smiled at him, before seeming to remember something. “Oh and Sally?”  
  
“Hm.” the addressed mumbled, still cuddling the consulting detective since he was compliant for once.

 

“Just stay away from Simmers, okay?”

 

A groan. “Are you on about that again? Okay fine. I´ll stay away from him. Satisfied?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good.”

 

John though seemed to sense that there was more. “Why should she stay away?” He asked and Sherlock seemed to hesitate for a second.

 

“Because I don’t like the way he looks at her. I swear he´s been having rape fantasies, the last time I saw him. And even though he hasn’t done anything yet... I know it’s hard to prove but...”

 

Sally actually intercepted him by putting a finger to his lips. “Sherlock.” She said. “You are an idiot. Next time just tell me, okay?”

 

“You would have believed me, even though you have known him longer than me and even though you looked up to him as you think he is a great police officer?” the consulting detective seemed surprised, to which Sally looked a bit sad for a second and sighed.

 

“Yes. I would have. I should have.” And with that she kissed him. “Sorry for blurting out your secret though.” She told him once they needed air again, but Sherlock shrugged. “It´s all right. You were trying to make me angry to make it easier to kill you, but strangely it didn´t work.”

 

“It didn´t?”

 

“No. It doesn´t bother me anymore.”

 

“That´s good, because she was wrong you know.” Sally smiled and Sherlock smiled back while John beamed at them.

 

“Indeed.” Was Sherlock’s answer, tugging both of them closer.

 

 

The End

 

  
 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yep, I take non guarantees for the medical side in this since I´m no doctor and it`s just a story written for the fun of it, but if you want more infos on the Choking game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choking_game 
> 
> WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT TRY THIS EVER!
> 
> Anyway that´s it for this story. I have more ideas but I´m not writing much at the moment - We´ll see if I ever get around to write more of this universe- if there is any interest that is. I hope you enjoyed this one- thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> So yep, another one. Hope someone likes all these silly ideas from my head. Comments are love...


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